Ram A. Cnaan

Measuring Motivation to Volunteer in Human Services

In this study, 258 volunteers in human services and 104 nonvolunteers were asked to rank in importance 28 motives for volunteering that had been identified in a thorough literature review. According to the literature, most researchers assume that motivation to volunteer (MMV) is a two-or three-dimensional phenomenon, but very few studies have carried out an empirical analysis of the internal dimensionality of MTV. The present findings indicate that when all 28 motives were subjected to various types of factor analysis, most items were grouped together on one factor. In other words, a unidimensional scale was obtained.

Reliability and validity of the addiction severity index with a homeless sample

The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is an instrument widely used to assess the treatment problems of substance users. Its psychometric properties have been tested and found satisfactory for many types of substance abusers entering treatment. However, there are many other subgroups of substance users not in formal treatment, such as homeless substance users. While the ASI has been used with this subgroup, its psychometric properties remain questionable. This study examined the reliability and validity of the ASI in a sample of 98 homeless substance users awaiting temporary housing placement. Test-retest reliability found the ASI to have moderate to high reliability coefficients in each of the seven domains assessed. Both composite score and severity rating measures were found to be quite independent with low intercorrelations. Three of the seven ASI composite scores were tested for and found to have moderate concurrent validity: alcohol (r = .31 to .36), drug (r = .46), and psychiatric (r = .53 to .66). Composite score interitem correlations were .70 or greater in each of the domains except for employment (.50) and family (.52). These data suggest that, although there are some limitations in using the ASI with homeless substance users, it demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity.

Public Perception of "Who is a Volunteer": An Examination of the Net-Cost Approach from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Our aim is to enhance the knowledge regarding how the public assess and rate volunteerism. We begin by first developing the model for understanding the potential use of the net-cost concept in eliciting the publics subjective perceptions on the extent to which certain activities are perceived as volunteerism. Four hypotheses relevant to the use of the net-cost concept are developed. We developed a questionnaire consisting of 50 case scenarios and applied it in Canada, India, Italy, Netherlands, and Georgia and Philadelphia in the United States, each with a sample of 450 adults or more. With one exception, our net-cost hypotheses are supported, suggesting that the public perception of volunteering is strongly linked with the costs and benefits that accrue to the individual from the volunteering activity, and that this result holds true across different cultures. Finally, we suggest directions for future research that can shed further light on the relationship between net cost and public good.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering: Is It All About Résumé Building?

This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhancing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering signals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteering, those students who volunteer for utilitarian reasons will be more likely to volunteer but will exhibit less time-intensive volunteering. Using survey data from 12 countries (n = 9,482), we examine our hypotheses related to motivations to volunteer, volunteer participation, and country differences. Findings suggest that students motivated to volunteer for building their résumés do not volunteer more than students with other motives. However, in countries with a positive signaling value of volunteering, volunteering rates are significantly higher. As expected, students motivated by résumé building motivations have a lower intensity of volunteering.

Mapping Volunteer Activity

The interest and recognition of the importance of volunteers over the last two decades has only highlighted confusion surrounding use of the term volunteer. Quite often in accounts of volunteer activity, terms are used interchangeably, although their content may vary. This article aims at analytically clarifying many of the complexities embedded in volunteer activity. In this endeavor, we use a mapping sentence method, which groups a variety of volunteer characteristics under key interrelated facets. We use a variety of literature-based components of volunteerism and systematically group them into ten facets. Together, they provide clarity and better understanding of the major components of volunteer activity.

Religious People, Religious Congregations, and Volunteerism in Human Services: Is there a Link?

The literature on volunteerism is voluminous, yet there is very little that examines the relationship between religious belief or observance and volunteerism. Religious belief may relate to an individuals decision to engage in volunteer activity. Religious observance may lead to organized volunteer activities that have a systemic impact on the community. Yet both are inadequately studied. The purpose of this article is to explore the link between religious beliefs and volunteerism and to shed light on the impact of religious observance on volunteering.

Social and cultural origins of motivations to volunteer a comparison of university students in six countries

Although participation in volunteering and motivations to volunteer (MTV) have received substantial attention on the national level, particularly in the US, few studies have compared and explained these issues across cultural and political contexts. This study compares how two theoretical perspectives, social origins theory and signalling theory, explain variations in MTV across different countries. The study analyses responses from a sample of 5794 students from six countries representing distinct institutional contexts. The findings provide strong support for signalling theory but less so for social origins theory. The article concludes that volunteering is a personal decision and thus is influenced more at the individual level but is also impacted to some degree by macro-level societal forces.

Philadelphia Census of Congregations and Their Involvement in Social Service Delivery

This census of congregational social services is the first attempt to identify all of the congregations in Philadelphia and their services. This article reports results from 1,376 of an estimated 2,095 congregations. It finds that 1,211 congregations (88 percent) have at least one social program. On average, each congregation provides 2.41 programs and serves 102 people per month. The primary beneficiaries are children (served by 49.2 percent of all programs). According to the census, 571 congregations (41.5 percent) collaborate with secular organizations, and 857 congregations (62.3 percent) are open to collaborating with government welfare programs. Conservatively, the financial replacement value of all congregational social services in Philadelphia is

Assessing the Impact of Two Residential Programs for Dually-Diagnosed Homeless Individuals

246,901,440 annually.

Group Processes and Volunteering: Using Groups to Enhance Volunteerism

Two residential programs for dually diagnosed (severely mentally ill and substance-abusing) homeless individuals in Philadelphia were compared in a quasi-experimental field study. Findings indicate that the experimental model, a hybrid psychosocial and drug rehabilitation program, did significantly better in maintaining clients in care and in successful rehabilitation than did the comparison model, a modified therapeutic community program. However, the overall rate of success in both programs was quite modest. We found Emile Durkheims concepts of organic and mechanical solidarity to be useful in comparing the structure of the two programs. Because of the small number of clients treated by these programs and the unique characteristics (predominately young, black, and male) of this urban population, findings are not conclusive but clarify direction for further practice and study.